Mary Abrams, Firefighter of the Year
The Walworthians
A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-209
by Kate Chamberlin
Mary Abrams, Firefighter of the Year
Mary Abrams is one of the people in our neighborhood. She is being honored as the 1999 Walworth Firefighter of the Year in recognition of her many years of service to our community.
Miss Abrams signed up for her first First-aid course 23 years ago, so that she’d know what to do if something happened during one of her 4-H meetings. As a youngster, Mary was an active member of 4-H under the leadership of Abbey Sauer and Les Hall. As an adult, she has her own 4-H group.
“Les was the one who taught me how to make bread,” she softly chuckled. “It is still one of my favorite activities to do with the children.”
Mary also bakes bread for the Baptist Church’s Annual Sheep Shear Festival and numerous baked sales as well as special loaves for shut-ins.
Mary is a 1974 graduate of Wayne Central. The high school teacher she remembers best is Mrs. Carol Spellman (formerly Miss Buish(.
“She taught Home Economics and Child Care,” Abrams said. “I still see her often, because Carol is the Cornell Extension Agent Coordinator of the Youth Programs, which includes 4-H.”
Nine years ago, Mary was looking for a more challenging job than working at the Freund Box Factory and someone suggested she take the Civil Service Exam. She became an aid with the Fingerlakes Developmental Center, working in a group home situation.
“One day, I took several of my clients from the Residence Home to a high school basketball game. I saw a familiar face and said hello even though I couldn’t come up with a name.”
The following day, her boss at the Fingerlakes Developmental Center asked her how she enjoyed the basketball game.
“At first I didn’t make the tie in,” Mary said. “But, the man at the basketball game was my former high school teacher, Dawson Raymos. His wife is my boss!”
During class work with the Palmyra Volunteer Ambulance 12 years ago, she was approached to join the corps, but she wanted to work in her home community, so she joined the Walworth Volunteer Ambulance. Daryl Hall was the Fire Chief at the time.
“I love my job,” Mary said. “In the Fire department office I handle all the paper work. I’m Captain of the ALS (Ambulance Life Support), which means I have to make sure all our drugs are not expired and keep accurate records. I do tours of the station for scouts and other groups, as well as teach CPR and First Aid.”
Mary’s many hours of classroom learning, training exercises and on-the-job experiences help her to be able to quickly evaluate what must be done when she goes out on a call. The crew must sometimes figure-out how to extricate a driver trapped in a car, how to get the gurney out of the upstairs bedroom of an older home, and assess an appropriate treatment.
“I love my job,” she said. “Each call is unique and we work as a team to bring the best we can to the patient.”
Mary hopes to become a Paramedic by completing a full year of course work, but she’s not sure when she’ll be finished.
The biggest change during the time Mary has lived here is the population explosion.
“I think this is a positive thing,” she said, “but, the services haven’t been able to keep up with it.”
She cited the number of clients Social Services has placed in Walworth. Some of them don’t have cars and there isn’t any public transportation, so they call the ambulance for a ride into a doctor’s visit. This ties up the ambulance for real medical emergencies.
One of the things that Mary emphasizes to her 4-H members is to treat others as you would want to be treated. She certainly practices what she preaches!
Thank you, Mary Abrams, you are a Walworthian with the accent on WORTH.
2018 Up-Date: From time to time, Mary helps out with the Firemen’s Chicken Barbecue, but, she’s so busy, I haven’t actually caught up to her to chat.